169: The Umbrella Hour with Dr. An Goldbauer & Zander Keig LCSW & guest Lee Beckstead, PhD169: The Umbrella Hour with Dr. An Goldbauer & Zander Keig LCSW & guest Lee Beckstead, PhD
UK Health Radio Podcast
Psychologist Dr. Lee Beckstead talks with hosts Dr. Ahn Goldbauer and Zander Keig about conversion therapy, minority stress and doing peacebuilding work with political enemies. The conversation focuses on clinical common ground, self-care and learning to turn toward conflict with compassion rather than hostility.
44:56•8 Jun 2026
Peacebuilding with Your Enemies: Dr Lee Beckstead on Conversion Therapy and Common Ground
Episode Overview
- Avoid pushing or blocking any specific sexual or gender identity; focus instead on supporting each person’s unique path.
- Prioritise reducing shame, anxiety and minority stress rather than trying to change attractions or identities.
- Use evidence-based psychological tools like self-acceptance, mindfulness and self-compassion to address distress.
- Turn toward conflicts and ‘enemies’ with curiosity and care, rather than turning away or against, to build real peace.
- Start peacebuilding with yourself through self-regulation, rest, nourishment and movement, so you can respond with more kindness and clarity.
“Instead of fighting evil, start good.”
How do people find hope in the darkest times? This conversation on The Umbrella Hour leans into that question by looking at what happens when you sit down with your so‑called enemies instead of trying to crush them. Hosted by Dr. Ahn Goldbauer and social worker Xander Keig, the episode centres on psychologist Dr. Lee Beckstead from Salt Lake City, Utah.
Since 2013, he has held monthly dialogues with people he once labelled his “political enemies” over sexual, gender and faith diversity. If that already sounds like hard work, it is. Lee explains how his early research into conversion therapy forced him to talk with people who claimed they’d been “cured”, even while others were deeply harmed.
Half of his 50 participants reported benefit, half reported harm, and that messy reality pushed him to ask harder questions instead of clinging to simple labels like “they’re lying to themselves”. The episode walks through the history of conversion practices, from brutal aversive methods to more subtle, psychodynamic and gender‑role‑focused approaches. Xander shares a painful experience of “fashion therapy” as a teenager, raising the question: what counts as conversion when the goal is to make someone more acceptable to others?
Lee answers plainly that it’s still a “conversion approach”. Together they sketch a shared clinical “common ground”: don’t push or block any particular identity; focus on reducing shame, anxiety and minority stress; and let identities emerge rather than being engineered. As Lee puts it, “Instead of fighting evil, start good” – shift from attacking to building something healthier. The trio also talk about cancel culture, fracture within LGBT communities, and how real peacebuilding starts with self‑regulation, compassion and basic self‑care.
If you’re curious how conflict can be turned into conversation instead of chaos, this hour gives plenty to chew on. What might change in your own life if, just once, you chose to turn toward rather than against?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.
Related Episodes
Similar episodes from other shows in the catalogue.